Some patients possess intractable high blood pressure such that it is difficult to improve the condition of high blood pressure even by taking a hypotensive drug. Reduction in blood pressure can be expected by cutting or damaging sympathetic nerves around the renal artery and by blocking the transmission of the sympathetic nerves.
A manual operation performed using an ablation device can percutaneously cut the sympathetic nerves of the renal artery. One method of using an ablation device possessing an electrode portion at the distal end of an elongated shaft, includes bringing the electrode portion into contact with an inner wall of the renal artery, and applying heat energy to the sympathetic nerves around the renal artery to cauterize the sympathetic nerves (for example, refer to JP-T-2012-513873).
When performing treatment on the renal artery using the ablation device, a guiding catheter is required to assist smooth insertion of the ablation device and to apply sufficient back-up force to safely and efficiently lead the ablation device to the target renal artery. Note that although not related to guiding an ablation device, examples of guiding a catheter in related art are found in the disclosures of JP-A-2009-273640 and JP-A-2011-83596.
In conventional manual operation in which treatment is performed on the renal artery using an ablation device, an ablation device is generally inserted into a guiding catheter after the guiding catheter has been inserted into the renal artery from the artery of the femur close to the renal artery and a distal portion of the guiding catheter has moved to within the target renal artery.